A local 3D animation firm is developing a platform in
which Ravens players will practice against holographic players.

By Jeff Barker July 17, 2017

An animated, life-sized, 3-D image of Pittsburgh Steelers
quarterback Ben Roethlisberger appears in an otherwise vacant office in Towson
with bare walls and a concrete floor.

Visible only through a special lens, he is surrounded by
his teammates in their familiar white, black and gold on a “field” with hash
marks and a game clock.

“Right now, what you are seeing is a holographic football
team coming at you and getting into their formation,” says Jim Pietila, CEO of
Mixed River, a Towson tech startup has developed an interactive program for the
Ravens and is seeking to push immersive, off-the-field preparation to new
levels.

Founded late last year, Mixed River offers not virtual
reality but “mixed reality,” which means the real world intersects with images
or data — in this case, holographic players.

Mixed River, whose co-founder, Carlson Bull, has a
background in animation, meticulously created images of the Ravens as well as
the Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and other teams on the Ravens’
2017 schedule.

“You can see Roethlisberger and everybody over here to
the left,” said Pietila, pointing to large figures that don’t exist. “Antonio
Brown is right here.”

“The next thing is to have Antonio Brown coming at us at
game speed.”

Perpetually seeking an edge, the Ravens, who open
training camp July 26, and all 31 other NFL teams compete not only for top
players and coaches but also for the best emerging technology.

Just as they are free to develop their own strength and
conditioning regimens, clubs are given latitude by the league to explore novel
training and visualization techniques developed by firms such as Mixed River or
STRIVR of Menlo Park, Calif.

STRIVR, which was founded in 2015 at Stanford University
and is used by the Dallas Cowboys and a handful of other NFL teams, provides
players with virtual-reality headsets they use to study 360-degree video shot
from varying vantage points — often from behind the quarterback — on the
practice field.

“It’s finding that edge that allows the game to slow
down,” said Trent Edwards, a STRIVR executive and former Stanford quarterback.

The NFL has invested in STRIVR, and said it is testing to
see whether it can help officials-in-training acclimate to the speed of the
game. The league also believes STRIVR could help prepare scouts for
interviewing prospects. In addition to NFL clubs, STRIVR customers include
college football teams, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington
Capitals.

Virtual reality also could help reduce head trauma
injuries, which are under increasing scrutiny by former players and the league.

“One of the attractions to the technology is the ability
to get those mental reps that don’t involve contact,” said Damani Leech, the
NFL’s vice president for football strategy and business development. “I think
you see it with other technology — with the robotic tackling dummies to allow
you to improve your tackling form without hitting another person.”

Rather than use practice or game film, Mixed River
provides simulations. Players wearing Microsoft HoloLens headsets can not only
observe formations but move and respond to their holographic counterparts, such
as Roethlisberger, on a real-life practice field or gymnasium, at game speed.

The effect is akin to entering a life-size Madden video
game.

“It took me into a different type of reality,” said NFL
free agent Yannik Cudjoe-Virgil, a former Tennessee Titans, University of
Maryland and Towson High School defensive player who tested Mixed River’s
program this month along with other current and former NFL players at a
football camp at Gilman School.

“There were pre-snap motions, [holographic] guys were
moving across the field,” Cudjoe-Virgil said. “I just felt like I had to line
up and play football.”

The program is so new that Mixed River’s two founders
arrived eager to see how the players would react. Wearing shorts and T-shirts,
the players assumed their natural positions. One pointed at his hologram
counterparts across the line of scrimmage and laughed. “That’s crazy, y’all,”
he said.

“They were literally making hand signals and saying,
‘This is my assignment,’” Pietila said. “It’s a game of inches, so why not do
whatever you can to step up that mental preparation?”

The Ravens recently signed a one-year deal with Mixed
River, which is pitching its product to other NFL and college teams. Mixed
River declined to divulge financial terms of the Ravens’ agreement.

The Ravens already have received equipment from the
company that allows them to load their plays and watch simulated players run
them on computer monitors, laptops or projected spaces. Coaches can configure
uniforms and numbers, stances and movements. The system uses a popular video
game engine called Unity 3D.

With the program, coaches “can accurately visualize plays
in the gym and teach players their assignments without having to step on the
field,” said Jon Dube, the Ravens’ vice president of video operations, in a
statement.

In the coming months, Mixed River hopes to offer the team
the ability to also view plays through the HoloLens — which cost $3,000 apiece
— in the way Pietila showed off Steelers players in a large office next door to
the company’s headquarters.

“The real power is going to come when our teams can line
up against holographic players in mixed reality,” said Bull, Mixed River’s
chief experience officer.

The Ravens staff declined interviews about exactly how
they plan to use the product.

With interactive technology rapidly evolving, teams and
companies don’t always know what their competitors are up to.

Edwards, of STRIVR, said he hadn’t heard about Mixed
River and is uncertain about the application of holographic avatars to
football.

“There are people out there that believe in that,”
Edwards said. “It feels to date a little too game-ified and too like Madden
graphics. I’m not a believer in that yet. But if it improves over time, it
could happen.”

Leech, the NFL vice president, said he was unfamiliar
with Mixed River, but he knew about mixed reality.

“I think everyone — not just in the league but across
sports — is exploring how that platform can be used for competitive purposes,
for fan purposes,” he said.

New technology might create the need for updated rules.
On game days, the league has an equity policy to ensure visiting teams have the
same access as home clubs to technology, video shooting positions, coaching
booths and equipment.

“I try to look at the game of football and look five or
10 years down the road,” Leech said. “Are there new rules we need to govern
this? What are some of the ways we see this creeping into game day where it
becomes a greater concern?

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